The past is not perhaps so obvious in Corfu as it is in other parts of Greece but the island has a history which is just as rich and fascinating. Due to its geographical position Corfu's adherence to Greece has never been secure.
Over the centuries the island was part of the Roman, Byzantine and Venetian empires. At the end of the 18th century it was successively part of Napoleon's French Republic, then a Russian protectorate, then captured again by Napoleon and finally, from 1815, an independent state under the protection of Great Britain. In 1864 the island became part of Greece.

Traces of these occupying powers are still visible and for those who find the beach too much of a good thing fourteen days running many are worth a visit. The cannon which gives Kanoni its name was left behind by the Russians in 1803 and on the Garitsa road out to Kanoni is the pretty Byzantine church of SS Jason and Sospiter, rebuilt in the 12th century.
A more remote Byzantine relic is the fortress at Gardiki south of Aghios Mattheos. The old and new forts in Corfu Town are both Venetian and the latter is certainly worth the climb to the top for the view of the town and the corfu island. Less well known is the Venetian arsenal which you can find on the right off the road between Kondokali and Gouvia.

The Liston, inspired by the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, was built by a French engineer. The British built Mon Repos, formerly the Greek king's summer villa, the Palace of St Michael and St George, taught the Corfiots to play cricket (which they still do) and introduced ginger beer to the island (now rather hard to find). There is also a British  cemetery containing the graves of soldiers killed in the Ionian islands during the British protectorate; it is in a delightful setting and the 19th century inscriptions conjure up visions of the life of the ordinary British soldiers in the heyday of the British Empire.
The cemetery is also famous as a habitat for wild flowers, especially wild orchids